


Closing Time

by SinkingintheAbyssofFeels



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: A hand to hold, Adventures In Space, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bad Wolf Rose Tyler, Bisexual Rose, F/F, Falling In Love Again, Fluff, Giggling, Heart-to-Heart, Like Old Times, Lone Wolf, Love, Pining, Repairing a broken heart, Reunions, gal pals, lesbian thirteen, pocket universe, remembering how the other made them feel, rose has a sonic, slow burn for Rose, the doctor feels like a companion, thirteen!Millie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-14 22:57:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18486154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinkingintheAbyssofFeels/pseuds/SinkingintheAbyssofFeels
Summary: Drawn into a pocket universe, Rose Tyler needs someone to help her complete certain tasks in order to get out.Meanwhile, the Doctor calls herself Millie, when she finds herself in a pocket universe with someone who looks suspiciously like Rose Tyler.What's the Doctor to do when she realizes the hold Rose Tyler still has on her hearts?What's Rose to do when she realizes Millie loves her... and she likes it.





	Closing Time

The elevator closed in this facade of a shopping center. Giant semi-transparent doors chomped shut, putting a wall between her and the extended arms inside. Strong metal bars hugged the outside as an external barrier, a joke as she couldn’t have hoped to open the first doors, then the egg shaped elevator dropped.

The stairs are faster. The stairs are always faster. And it was those stairs that helped Rose follow the elevator trail all the way down where she saw it disappear to the depths below the floor.

The lights went out.

“Damn it!” Rose grunted, stamping the ground as she combed fingers through her hair.

“You lost on that one, unbelieveable,” an elderly woman with an oddly chipper voice noted over the rim of her book with a sympathetic laugh. “I’ve seen my fair share, you picked an amble partner, dear.”

“I know. It’s me that’s slipping.” Rose dropped, knees bent to prop her arms over them. “I can’t believe I’ve been here a week.”

“I like it here,” The woman shrugged. “No reason for me to leave.”

Rose smirked. “You’ve said so before, Sib.”

Sib smiled warmly. “Why not stay awhile? Relax, have fun. No one out there waiting for you, said so yourself. Besides...” She rolled her shoulders. “Leaving is what can get you killed.”

A sigh fell from her lips. She gazed skyward as though she could see the projections of memories before her very eyes.

The moment earth came into contact with aliens friendly enough to share their technology, Rose booked it. She traveled to other worlds through space, but not time. It only moved linearly now. Never stopping. And thanks to Bad Wolf, it’s been hundreds of years.

She’s lost so much.

Still. Rose found meaning to move on.

“Because I need to meet the ones who aren’t waiting for me. They’re out there, hurting. They’ve given up, and I need them to remember that there  _ is _ such a thing as a hero.”

Sib held her cheek. “You make an old woman blush.”

Rose laughed. “Thanks.”

Sib gathered her thermos and bookmarked her page, yet lingered. “Doesn’t that mean you’re still waiting?”

Rose jerked back. “What?”

“For a hero, love,” Sib emphasized. “You’ve not given up. You must still believe someone’s going to save you.”

Did she?

Hundreds of years, parallel universes, and Rose Tyler still believes the Doctor will save the day?

The Doctor, who left her with a man who gave his whole life for her to love, when she couldn’t give him her own. Rose stared at her right hand. His lucky hand, the last thing she held before he let go of his last living breath.

“No.” That one word sent a shiver down Sib’s spine. Cold, hollow, and meaning so much more than a simple answer. Rose dropped her hand, determination like ice gleaming in her eye. “No one’s coming for me.” She gathered herself from the ground to go rest for the night. Speaking as she walked away, “I have given up, Sib. Given up on myself. I live for others now. That’s all that matters now.”

Sib gave a tight lipped smile, suddenly feeling so much younger than this nineteen-year-old woman. “Very well, Rose.”

* * *

 

 

The new recruits came in at six am on the dot. Screaming inside the dozens of elevators that descended in a straight shot like an arrow. The elevators moved faster in the morning, as though they were more awake than when they went to bed at night.

Rose eyed this new crowd, all blinking like newborns, for her next partner.

* * *

 

 

The Doctor tumbled out of an elevator. That’s not right. She’d been... She shook her head, blonde strands flicking her face. She was searching for Graham. He’d wandered off, why must they always wander off!?

The Doctor blinked hard at her surroundings. Dozens of others like herself were struggling for even footing, looking around this strange new... shopping center?

An elderly lady, knitting at the edge of a center fountain, appeared quite content. Not looking around, cringing, or anywhere near an elevator like the rest of them.

Ah-ha.

A native.

“Terribly sorry to disturb you, ma’am,” the Doctor clasped her hands together, swooping closer with a fluttering of her long gray coat. “But can you tell me where we are?”

The woman set her knittings down with a hint of excitement in her eye. “Oh my, where to begin?” She invited the Doctor to sit.

With an upward curl of her lip, the Doctor looked around, and shrugged. “Eh.” She sat.

“Now, I’m Sib,” she introduced.

“Nice to meet ya, Sib,” the Doctor extended her hand.

Sib shook, then continued, “For starters, this is a pocket universe.”

“Get out!” The Doctor exclaimed happily. “Looks like a shopping center to me. What’s fueling it?”

A new voice piped in, “you’re asking all the right questions.”

The Doctor choked on her breath.

“You’re not going to like the answer,” she continued, clasping her hands behind her back.

The Doctor gaped like a fish at the blonde stepping closer. There, in all of her memory-preserved beauty, was Rose Tyler.

Oh, Rassilon, when did she fall asleep?

The Doctor slapped herself. Hard.

Sib jumped.

Rose’s friendly smile slipped right off her face.

Staring wide-eyed to her left at the still tiled ground, the Doctor concluded that this was, in fact, not a dream.

“Sorry!” The Doctor reclaimed her vigor in almost the same second she lost it. She smiled at Rose, cheek glaringly red with the outline of her hand. “You were saying?”

Sid got up, staring pointedly at Rose as she turned to leave. “You sure about this one?”

Rose rolled her eyes. Reclaiming the pep in her step, she skipped up to sit beside the Doctor. “So, pocket universes, you know of ‘em, yeah?”

The Doctor, pretending to shift in place to get comfortable, slid expertly away. “Yes. Typically a blimp. Never last long.”

Rose licked her lips, excited despite the circumstances. Like she were spoiling the next season of her favorite show. “Except this one’s been standin’ for almost a century.”

“Nooo,” the Doctor leaned in, catching onto Rose’s infectious energy. She flexed her hands. Oh, how she wanted to pinch Rose’s cheeks, scan her, investigate. But, thrumming in her fingertips, she couldn’t let go of the hope that somehow this  _ is _ her. Snatched out of time, cloned, hallucinated, what have you. Pretend a little longer, why not?

“Yes,” Rose’s eyebrows jumped with a wry grin. “I thought it was cool too, but then there’s the kicker.”

The doctor nodded, wide and with a sigh. “Fuel.”

Rose gave a disappointed nod. “It’s people. Everyone brought here, yourself included.”

“Darn,” The Doctor tsked. “I hate being a sacrifice.”

Rose shook her head. “And not even the common courtesy of fattening us up first.”

The Doctor couldn’t help it. She chuckled.

Rose joined in, all smiles, and it’s like the Doctor’s heart's remembered they could beat.

How... why is Rose here? The Doctor thought it terrible bait. Friends come and gone would raise suspicion with time. Using Bill would make more sense, as she had been the most recent to leave.

Not to mention her own face has changed. Blimey, her  _ gender _ has changed.

If someone’s deliberately hanging Rose Tyler at her nose she... let’s be honest, she’ll probably follow.

Is it at all possible the one pulling the strings knows how she felt for Rose? How, the Doctor’s realizing, she  _ still _ feels for Rose?

Needless to say, when it’s time to pull the curtains down, she’s burning the stage to ash.

* * *

 

 

“I’m Rose Tyler,” said ‘Rose Tyler’ with an extended hand.

The Doctor accepted, and shook her hand. “Call me the- the- mmMMmm,” she swung around the syllables as she caught them, humming as she dug desperately through her mind for a female alias. “Mildred!” Oh wow, she hated that. The Doctor wrinkled her nose and swiftly added, “—but call me Millie.” She flashed her teeth, and Rose ignored her near miss with a returning smile.

Adjusting her hold, Rose took a firm grip of her hand, and yanked the Doctor to her feet. She’s Surprisingly strong. Or maybe this regeneration is lighter.

“Alright, Millie. First off, you’ll need a job.”

Hands. The Doctor noted with a mix of thrill and panic. Their hands still fit perfectly. Wait. “A job?”

Rose nodded, her shoulder length golden hair bouncing. “For housing, you need a job. It’s free when you work. There’s these living quarters in the back. Like apartments.”

“Oh, I don’t plan on staying long,” The Doctor squinted an eye at her surroundings, and listed, “Find the source of this universe, kaput it, out!”

Rose rolled her eyes in good nature. “Tried that. You’ve got to play along to get out.”

The Doctor rubbed her thumb over the back of Rose’s hand for comfort and nearly drew back when she realized what she’d done.

“Um,” the Doctor cleared her throat. “Play along?”

“So...” Rose led her to the escalator. “The people forced here can escape through the elevators if they complete certain tasks. The only thing is you need a partner.”

The Doctor’s eyebrows jumped. “Ah. So that’s why you chose me.”

Rose smiled, tongue in tooth, and the Doctor’s remembering more about her with every passing second. “It’s important to have a partner with talent. You’re clever. My last partner had the brawns.”

The Doctor carefully ventured, “last partner?”

Rose waved her off. “He made it to the elevator before I could catch up. Completing the tasks summons an elevator. It will wait for you and your partner until ten pm. Then it leaves, with or without either of you.” Rose huffed. “Not even sure where it goes; if it is freedom. But it’s unexplored, and that’s all my curiosity needs. There!” Rose exclaimed, pointing.

The Doctor stared down the end of her finger with wide eyes into a shoe shop on the upper level.

That’s rather drab...

Inside the shop a middle aged man moved around boxes of shoes along the shelves lining the walls.

“He’s easy. Ask him for a job.” Rose pushed the Doctor in by the back. “Try flirting, it’ll go by faster.”

The Doctor skidded her shoes against the tile, practically begging, “Please, no. I can find us a way out. I don’t do retail, Rose.” She flipped around. Rose backed slightly as the Doctor’s grey jacket flayed out at her legs. “Besides, my fam’s waiting for me. They won’t expect me to be gone a day.”

Rose dropped her hands, tilted her head, and raised a tired brow. “Millie, it’s not that simple.”

The Doctor clasped her hands together. “Let me try.”

Rose took a deep breath— and dropped her shoulders. “You’re sure you’ll get out in a day?”

The Doctor nodded. “Promise.”

“Very well...” Rose checked her watch. “I get off in five hours.” She backed away, reasserting with a twirl of her finger, “remember, you’re  _ my  _ partner. Don’t let others persuade you. They’ve stolen my good pickings before.”

The Doctor mock saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

* * *

 

 

She should’ve known better than to make a promise with Rose Tyler.

The Doctor begrudgingly paced outside Rose’s place of work. A clothing store. Ha. The irony.

She didn’t expect an  _ I told you so, _ but knew it was entirely a possibility.

At every angle, inside every store, through the electrical room, down the apartments halls, in the blasted laundry room! It’s all ordinary. Except the tube the elevators travel through, and try as she might, nothing would pry them open. Not even her sonic.

Rose was right.

When wasn’t she?

“Care to try for that job?” Rose asked as she folded a shirt.

The Doctor crossed her arms after explaining her findings. Rose had nodded patiently along, as though she expected every word. Cheeky thing. Least she didn’t rub it in.

“I don’t flirt,” The Doctor petulantly objected, still simmering in her defeat.

“Everyone flirts, intentionally or not,” Rose explained with a giggle. “All that matters is how the other person sees it.”

“But I don’t- I can’t-” the Doctor floundered, then quieted to confess, “I’ve never flirted with men.”

Rose set her hands down, rumpling a shirt she’d grabbed to fold. “Oh.” She looked the Doctor up and down, bringing her to blush, and become absurdly self-conscious.

Rose resumed her work. “What I said doesn’t change.”

The doctor’s jaw dropped, she creased her brows, ready to argue.

Until Rose said, “It’s still easy. Ask him what he does, act like it’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever heard, then ask if you could learn by working there with him.”

“This is ridiculous.” The Doctor combed a hand through her hair, hand to her hip. “Surely you didn’t stoop to such lows.”

Rose raised a brow, nodding at her boss. A burly older man. Oh. Ew.

“You’ll want a room,” Rose insisted as though she could read the Doctor’s thoughts on remaining homeless during her stay here. “This mall isn’t friendly after closing time. Thieves will steal all you’ve got.” She met her eyes meaningfully. “Others will do worse when you’re a woman...”

* * *

 

 

Let him feel like he's in control, Rose said. How? She's the Doctor! She's always the one in control.

Except now as she does exactly what Rose instructed her to do.

It’s simple; go in, get a job, and therein a room, complete the tasks with Rose... Note to self, ask Rose what the tasks are. Then get back to the TARDIS, and out of this mess.

The Doctor closed her eyes at the ceiling. The bizarreness had yet to flee. Rose Tyler and the Doctor, once again on an adventure. Nevermind whatever Rose really is.

_ Live in the moment, _ the Doctor told herself. So what if Rose’s fake, she's enjoying it...

Now.

First.

Get a job.

“Five hours, and it's like I never left.”

“Rose!” The Doctor squeaked, Whirling around. She cleared her throat suddenly, raising her head with a haughty sniff. “Actually, I'll prove I can get a job without feminine antics.”

Rose rolled her eyes with a grin.

The Doctor entered the establishment. Posture straight, she gave the man her most dazzling smile.

“Good sir,” she greeted. “You've got quite the lovely shop going on here.”

The man smiled with a nod. “I do my best. It's hard work day in and out.”

“I'm sure.” The Doctor agreed. “Which is why I'd like to offer you my services.”

Rose muffled a laugh into her hand.

The man's smile turned sickly sweet. “Would you, love?”

Unsure of the shift in mood, the Doctor strode confidently on. “Yes. I'm excellent at organization. And my mind's a fortress. I can have the name of every customer and shoe memorized by the end of the day.”

“Ah.” The man reached across the counter to cup her hand with both of his. “Might you offer... other services?”

“Other...?” The Doctor sharply drew back. “Shame on you! I'm here to work, nothing more.”

He adjusted his collar with a scoff. “You're all here to work.”

The Doctor strode out, flashing her hands out. “Unbelievable!”

“To be fair,” Rose hung on the edge of a giggle. “I did tell you how to take it slow. Build up his expectations without... promises.”

The Doctor's high voice went higher. “I promised him hard work!”

“You said services,” Rose corrected.

The Doctor grumbled, running a hand down her face. “Blimey. To be a bloke.”

“Amen.”

* * *

 

 

Computer technology, ha! The Doctor leaned against the counter, smirking at the clerk, ready to shine.

“Show me your broken electronics.”

* * *

 

 

“So you got a job, Millie?”

The Doctor picked at her fingernails, humming weakly in agreement. “What you watching?” She changed the subject.

Rose sat in a bean bag before the televisions lining a wall in a home decor store. An alien sitcom unfolded before her.

Rose scooted over in the large bean bag, inviting the Doctor to sit.

Oh, no.

She really shouldn't...

The Doctor nestled beside her, breath catching when they rubbed shoulders.

Rose described the plot with dramatic hand movements. “Can't pronounce the name, but the show is about these best friend's. The main one's down on cash, can't get a job, but her barmy grandmother left an inheritance.” Rose licked her lips, and pushed an arm back to face the Doctor better.

The Doctors heart's raced. They're breathing the same air, it feels so intimate. Blimey, like a crush in primary school. It’s jarring to remember how Rose could— can make her feel.

“And she can’t get it unless she’s married! Doesn’t matter who. So in comes her best friend, saying she can’t pay for school...” Rose’s eyebrows do a dance.

The Doctor laughs, the apples of her rosy cheeks reach for her eyes, and Rose admires the colors. Gorgeous green eyes, glimmering with flecks of amber and gold and something... something so warm and familiar. Rose’s heart stumbles. It shouldn’t, but it alarms her.

Her heart can long, and move on.

It can drum with confidence, and quiet just the same.

Build a raging fire, then smolder to ash.

But love. Love is dangerous. It puts up a house, fills it with memories, and when the person who created that home vanishes... all she has left in her heart is a decaying foundation, filled with memories she has to revisit alone.

“Let me guess.” The Doctor bites down on her lower lip, and tilts her head side to side. “They get married?”

Rose locked away those thoughts and enthused, “yes-! well, they’re planning on it. They’ve agreed to move in together last episode! And now the main character, the pink one, knows she’s head over heels for her best friend, the blue one. I absolutely have to know that her friend realizes she feels the same.” Rose stared at the telly a minute, sighed, and slouched back. “Today’s a re-run though.” Rose handed over the remote. “Wanna watch something?”

The remote had more buttons and symbols than she recognized, even from alien remotes. How long did it take Rose to figure this one out?

The Doctor shook her head. “I haven’t the foggiest of what to look for.”

Rose craned her neck, checking conspicuously around the area. She plopped back into place with a mischievous glint in her eye. “Let’s fix that, yeah?”

Rose unclasped a silver oval pendant from her necklace. A blue jewel rested in the center. She pressed the blue center, and a buzzing filled the air. She scanned it down the Doctor, then directed it at the screens.

The Doctor gaped at what now played on the dozens of television screens. “That’s the news from the planet I was on!”

Rose held forth her device in a flourish, pride brimming in her features. “It’s a sonic pendant.”

The Doctor grabbed it, turning it every which way. God, she wanted to sonic this sonic. “It’s so compact!”

Rose nodded. “I bumped into a few micro civilizations that helped me perfect it.” She took it, held it to her necklace, and it snapped back into place. “Before that I helped mine a telepathic lodestone- er, magnet from the Five-Five Kij Galaxy, and they let me keep a few pieces.” She smirked like the cat who got the cream. “Therefore, it only comes off if I want it to. Same goes for the necklace clasp it’s attached to.”

The Doctor’s chest burst with pride. “Rose, that’s amazing! How’d you learn to do any of that!? And you travel?” She vibrated in place. “To other planets!?”

“Yes,” Rose gushed. “To places you wouldn’t believe. Just the stars and I.”

In the corner of her eye, the Doctor spotted her mug flashing across the screen. Added with Yaz asking if anyone’s seen her. The Doctor subtly hit buttons on the remote while asking, “alone? You’re human though, isn’t it dangerous?”

Rose’s eyebrow twitched humorously, a crack in her kind mask. “You look human yourself, Millie. I should think it rude for you to assume.”

The Doctor ripped her eyes from the telly. “What do you mean?”

Rose studied the Doctor with a critical gaze. “I thought you clever, but I suppose you’re a bit thick in places. No one here is human, Millie.”

This is a turnabout, if the Doctor’s ever seen one. Suddenly she knew how it felt to be on an alien planet with a stranger who you thought you could trust, yet knew nothing about. The Doctor and companion roles reversed.

“But...”

“It’s a pocket universe,” Rose reminded her. “Fueled by the lives brought here. You have to wonder what kind of beings a pocket universe would need to toss like coal in a fire to live.”

With that little breath she had, the Doctor said, “powerful ones, I’d wager. What-” she swallowed. “What does that make you?”

Rose came nearly nose to nose with her, somehow enjoying the Doctor’s apparent shock. Her iris’ swam with a golden flash of light. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

“Rose,” an employee called. “Closing for the night.”

“Aw.” Rose got to her feet. On their way out, she told him, “thank you, Jeremy.”

His cheeks pinkened. “No problem, Rose.”


End file.
